Posted By Paul Leadbetter Tony The employer is not expected to pay for more than a basic pair of single vision glasses. If the employeee wants fancy frames, they should pay the extra cost. Paul

Posted By Debbie Walker As a company we took the decision to make a single blanket payment that covered everyone / all opticians etc. We will pay for the cost of the consultation and a further £75 BUT ONLY after they have had an appointment with our Occ Health Dept and then present receipts. This way we avoid being ripped off by people who are claiming that the glasses are for computer work and then are never seen to wear them while at a desk.

Posted By Debbie Rose I suggest is what you do is find out the basic prie of specs at your surrounding opticians and suggest a fee (ours is £65) for the specs. This then is the maximum that can be claimed. Anything over this amount would be at their own expense. Suggesting going through occ health could be negative as this could delay staff getting the correct specs and putting them more at risk due to the delay.

Posted By Zyggy Turek Many organisations, including my own, refer employees to Occ. Health first for a "Keystone" test. If the employee "fails" this, then they are referred to an optician. I am aware of the limitations of this test & that an employee can opt to see an optician at the outset, but the main source of income for opticians is from selling prescription spectacles! I believe that this approach captures more employees who may actually need corrective spectacles & also ensures some kind of standardisation.

Posted By Debbie Rose I would like to point out that going through one optician could be quite negative. Most people will tend to go to the same optician that they have always used. We use the same GP, dentist etc. Making this decision is going to give one firm more business than others and individuals would not necesarily have all their eye sight history to make decisions on previous history.

Posted By Ron Hunter Tony, No-one responding so far seems to be picking up on what the guidance associated with the Display Screen Regulations actually says. (Your respondents have also indirectly answered my posting of 15th July on same subject). Paragraph 87 of L26 states that the employer pays for lenses incorporating a prescription for display screen use - this can include multi-or varifocals - to fit a basic frame. There is no option to set a maximum limit in the Regs/guidance. Whereas most opticians can set a price for single prescription lens & basic frame (usually £50 - £55 mark), multi-focal lenses can vary and be considerably more expensive. At the end of the day, expectation should be that the employee is not out of pocket, unless they want to pay extra for the fancy tints and designer frames. In some instances, it may be necessary to obtain a quote from optician. A contractual arrangement with an optician or group may have merit - allowing for a "levelling out" of these variances in lens costs over a wide range of employees down to a 'unit charge', irrespective of the actual cost?